An American in Paris

The online journal of several months abroad... in the City of Light. The chronicles, discoveries, anecdotes, and reflections that go with an American's life in the capital of France.

My Photo
Name:
Location: Kansas, United States

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Home Sweet Home

I know that it's been absolutely ages since I posted. I'm so sorry!! But I have to admit that I have been having/doing/seeing some pretty incredible things during my time in absentia! In brief, I spent two weeks with Dad and Rose in Spain, hitting Seville, the national park of Monfrague, Toledo, Guadalupe, Trujillo, Avila, Leon, and Santiago de Compostela. We had a couple of days in France together before Dad flew home. Then Rose and I spent a couple more together there in Paris before she flew home and I flew to Poland. In Poland, I got to go to Warsaw (where I stayed almost the entire time I was there), Wilanow, Niepokalanow, Czestochowa, and Lublin. I flew back to Paris on May 10 and on May 11, I flew from Paris to London to Chicago to Kansas City, then had a 2-hour drive home, where I went immediately to my brother's baseball game and then to the end of a parish square dance! I didn't actually get HOME until about 10:30 pm and didn't get to bed until about 1 am... making it a full 24-hours that I had been awake. And in 48 hours, I had been in 3 European capital cities and in four different countries!

Surprisingly, I had practically NO jetlag at all!! Deo gratias!

So I've been home for about a week now and have almost finished unpacking. :) The matter of going through this year's photos, however, will be a project that takes me all summer... and that's speaking optimistically! :P

I can't even begin to put into words all I learned while abroad and all that these past several months mean to me, especially the 9 days in Poland. I'm still trying to synthesize it for myself! I don't think anyone can spend several months in Europe and come home unchanged. What a gift it was!